Randall Hertzel
'Randall Hertzel '''is the main antagonist of the 2002 American drama film ''About Schmidt. Biography Randall is a dim-witted waterbed salesman whose business is failing as water beds are no longer selling well. He endeavors to marry Jeannie Schmidt, the daughter of Warren R. Schmidt, an insurance actuary for Woodmen. Randall and Jeannie met in Denver, Colorado and plan to marry there and start a new life as well. We see that Randall also tried out an "investment opportunity" to recoup his losses from the water bed store, as Randall's been planning to leave the water bed business for years because of it. Early in the movie, Randall tried to bait in Warren Schmidt with promises of doubling to tripling your money within one year. Warren, being an actuary familiar with risks in long-term and short-term investment, finds Randall's promises unrealistic and too dangerous to take, so he chooses not to give Randall any money for said "investment opportunity". Towards the end of the movie, Warren asked Randall how did the investment situation work out a few months later. Randall's family then admits that it was actually a pyramid scheme, and that his brother lost $800. Randall then stammers that it's not his fault that his brother couldn't find enough quality representatives of his own and that he just didn't stay long enough in the operation. Warren begs Jeannie not to marry Randall, claiming that Randall is a failure in life without a real paying job or the skillset needed to be a proper husband. And to make matters worse, Randall's family are all as braindead and eccentric as Randall is, so he does not want to get affiliated with Jeannie. Jeannie refuses to cancel the wedding, forcing Warren to reluctantly attend and be supportive. The next day, Warren breaks his back on a water bed (that Randall provided), and Jeannie orders Randall to help Warren off the floor. When Randall refuses claiming he has a friend to go pick up from the airport, Jeannie snaps in anger and screams at him that her father is in trouble and he's being lazy and forcing her to do everything. Randall still refuses to help Warren and so Randall's mother Roberta nurses Warren back to health. Warren gives a very feigned speech that he is positive about the marriage commencing (after contemplating over whether he should attack the entire wedding and let loose), then drives back home. Warren then mentions the two are going on a honeymoon in Orlando and that he was coerced into paying for the expenses. He wallows in sorrow that Jeannie is doomed to be the sole breadwinner of her new family meaning she'll have to work long and hard to keep herself and her potential children in the future from being underwater. And eventually she might even have to divorce Randall because of his incompetence in the job market, or she'll have to live off her dad's money. Personality Randall is a braindead buffoon without a level-headed plan for supplying income for himself let alone his fiancee Jeannie Schmidt. He makes virtually no money from selling water beds and a lack of customers made him desperate enough to even try out a pyramid scheme, which racked him up a lot of debt and forced him to work it off by hunting other potential victims but also instructing them to not only send in their own money but to start fishing other people for their money as well. Randall completed only high school at best in addition to a 2-week course of electronics at a technical institute. It is a mystery how Jeannie was enticed to marry Randall when he's not even keeping a steady and healthy cash inflow through employment, which could imply that Jeannie either agreed to become the primary breadwinner for the two or she believed Randall's exaggerations about his own financial status. Trivia *It is unknown who is the kingpin of the pyramid scheme that Randall is participating in, but it couldn't be Randall himself because he also got caught in the pyramid scheme and owes debt to that scheme as well. *To date, the only people who weren't gullible enough to fall for Randall's pyramid scheme were Warren (who stayed away out of precaution) and Jeannie (who Randall didn't offer the scam for out of love). Category:Thief Category:Criminals Category:Karma Houdini Category:Successful Category:Liars Category:Cowards Category:Spouses Category:Related to Hero Category:Live Action Villains Category:Movie Villains Category:Businessmen Category:Incompetent Category:Dimwits Category:In Love